Barbecue griddle

ABSTRACT

A barbecue griddle adapted to overlie a charcoal fire or the like and including a heat conductive plate with an upper cooking surface. A plurality of smoking apertures are spaced generally evenly about the plate and extend therethrough from the upper cooking surface to the lower plate surface. A downwardly extending flange defines, together with the lower plate surface, a smoke collection chamber for collecting smoke flowing upwardly from the fire and for directing the collected smoke upwardly through the smoking apertures so as to overlie the cooking surface. The outer periphery of the cooking surface is provided with an upwardly extending retainer means that inhibits grease from flowing over the side of the cooking surface and also serves to prevent food from freely sliding off the cooking surface. A suitable handle may be provided for the griddle.

1 51 Mar. 27, 1973 BARBECUE GRIDDLE Elizabeth Emmett Richmond, Va.

David A. Brown, Richmond, Va. part interest Filed: Nov. 18, 1969 Appl.No.: 877,765

Inventor: Plumley,

Assignee:

us. (:1 ..99/467, 99/450 1m. (:1. ..A23b 1/04 Field of Search ..99/254,260, 261, 422, 425, 99/444, 445, 446, 450, 424, 349, 467; 126/595, 390,14, 215; 220/44 7 References Cited UNITED STATES PA'I'EN'IS 3,046,9717/1962 Hogshire ..99/45O X 3,385,281 5/1968 ORussa ..220/44 PrimaryExaminer-Robert W. Jenkins Assistant Examiner-Arthur 0. HendersonAttomey-Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis [57] ABSTRACT A barbecue griddleadapted to overlie a charcoal fire or the like and including a heatconductive plate with an upper cooking surface. A plurality of smokingapertures are spaced generally evenly about the plate and extendtherethrough from the upper cooking surface to the lower plate surface.A downwardly extending flange defines, together with the lower platesurface, a smoke collection chamber for collecting smoke flowingupwardly from the tire and for directing the collected smoke upwardlythrough the smoking apertures so as to overlie the cooking surface. Theouter periphery of the cooking surface is provided with anupwardlyextending retainer means that inhibits grease from flowing overthe side of the cooking surface and also serves to prevent food fromfreely sliding off the cooking surface. A suitable handle may beprovided for the griddle.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATEHTEUHARZHQB .722402 SHEET 1 BF 2INVENTOR FIG. 5 ELIZABETH EMMETT PLUMLEY BY uru, 'Aom, Ema, Swwtu Had;

ATTORNEYS PATEHTEUHARZYIQYS 2,1102

sum 2 OF 2 mvsmon ELIZABETH EMMETT PLUMLEY BY 8w, bow, Qwb'd, Medcu iMUS BARBECUE GRIDDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relatesto cooking apparatus. More particularly, this invention relates to acooking apparatus for use in barbecuing or the'like.

In connection with barbecuing food, it has been common for many years toemploy grills to provide the cooking surface. Some of these grills havebeen provided with handles, as in the case of hibachis.

Although such barbecuing grills may often prove satisfactory, they maysometimes be undesirable for a number of reasons.

For example, the relatively open network of the grills, while permittingsmoke to reach the food and also serving to conduct a degree of heat tothe food, does not provide a cooking surface readily amenable to theturning over of food. Thus, hamburgers or the like are often droppedinto the charcoal bed during the turning over process. Similar problemsare encountered when it is desired to move the food to acooler or hotterportion of the grill or to temporarily remove the foot in the case ofunwanted flames from the coals.

Moreover, therelatively open grill network makes it extremely difficultto cook thin slices of food, such as bacon strips, without these thinslices being dropped through the grill.

In this connection, it has been a past cooking practice to utilizefrying pans to reston a grill so that objects, such as bacon strips, maybe readily cooked outdoors, or so that mobility of food away from hot orcold areas is facilitated. However, the flavoring of the food by smokingis substantially eliminated in this process.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION It is, therefore, a general objectof the invention to obviate or minimize disadvantages of the sortpreviously noted.

It is particularly an object of the invention to provide a barbecuegriddle which serves to facilitate flavoring of the food by adequatesmoking while avoiding problems associated with moving the food tohotter or cooler zones or with turning over of the food.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a barbecuegriddle with a smoke collection chamber for collecting smoke flowingupwardly from a smoke source and for directing the collected smoke so asto cause it to overlie the cooking surface. 1

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a barbecuegriddle which improves the ability to cook thin food slices, such asbacon strips.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such a griddlewith retainer means for inhibiting the flow of grease over'the side ofthe cooking surface and for preventing food from freely sliding off thecooking surface.

A preferred embodiment of the invention intended to accomplish at leastsome of the foregoing objects comprises a barbecue griddle in the formof a heat conductive plate member with an upper cooking surface and alower surface. A suitable handle may be connected to the plate member sothat it may be raised or lowered or moved to hotter or cooler positionsrelative to a source of heat and smoke, such as a conventional charcoalfire.

The plate member is provided with a plurality of spaced, smokingapertures extending therethrough from the upper cooking surface to thelower surface. The lower surface and a peripherially and downwardlyextending flange together provide means for defining a smoke collectionchamber. This chamber is operative to collect smoke flowing upwardlyfrom the smoke source and to direct the collected smoke further upwardlythrough the smoking apertures so as to overlie the cooking surface ofthe plate member.

A retaining means is provided adjacent the outer periphery of the uppersurface to inhibit grease from dripping downwardly over the outerperiphery of the cooking surface and to prevent food on the cookingsurface from freely sliding off of that surface. This retaining meansmay be in' the form of an outer flange extending peripherially about thecooking surface and projecting upwardly therefrom.

Another preferred form of the retaining means is embodied in the outerperiphery of the plate member itself with the plate member beinggenerally dished.

Preferably, the smoking apertures are generally evenly spaced about theplate member to provide for even flavoring of the food to be cooked.Also, the surface area of the cooking surface is preferably greater thanthe surface area defined by the smoking apertures so that a major partof the cooking is done by heat conduction through the cooking surface,thereby reducing the loss of radiant energy from the source of heat.

Both the retaining means and the flange forming a portion .of the smokecollection means may be integrally formed with the plate member, in thepreferred embodiment, so that apart from the handle the barbecue griddlemay be manufactured from a single stamping of metal stock material.

THE DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the subsequent detailed description thereof withreference to the accompanying drawings in which: 1

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one preferred form of a barbecue griddleaccording to the present invention, with a conventional spatulacooperable therewith depicted in phantom,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the barbecue griddle of FIG. 1 takenalong line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another preferred form of a barbecuegriddle of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the barbecue griddle of FIG. 3; V

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the barbecue griddle of FIG. 4 takenalong line 55 therein;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the griddle of FIG. 1 as used witha conventional barbecue grill depicted in phantom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2,one preferred form of a barbecue griddle 10 in accordance with thepresent invention is there illustrated.

The griddle comprises a heat conductive plate member 12 having an uppercooking surface 14 and a lower surface 16. Extending through the platemember 12 from the upper cooking surface 14 to the lower sur face it area plurality of smoking apertures 18, some of which are onlyschematically shown.

Preferably, these apparatus are, as illustrated, evenly spaced about thecooking surface. The even spacing of the apertures 18 serves to insurethat food may be generally evenly flavored by smoke passing through theapertures as subsequently described. Also as illustrated, the surfacearea of the plate member 12 exceeds the surface defined by the smokingapertures 18.

Through this arrangement a major portion of the cooking of food may beaccomplished by heat conduction from a source of heat such as a charcoalfire (not shown) to the food through the heat conductive plate member12. Thus, the advantages of smoke flavoring of food are retained whilethe loss ofradiant energy from the source of heat is minimized.

Integral with the plate member 12, and extending about the outerperiphery thereof is a flange member 20. This flange member 20 projectsdownwardly from the plate member 12 so as to define, together with thelower surface 16 of the plate member, a smoke collection chamber 22 asindicated in FIG. 2.

Preferably, the flange member 20 extends continuously about the platemember so that the lateral portion of the collection chamber 22 iscompletely closed. However, discontinuities of the flange 20 are alsocontemplated.

The lowermost surface 24 of the flange 20 serves to provide a supportfor the griddle by means of which the griddle may be rested uponconventional barbecue grills such as the one illustrated at 17 in FIG.6, or the like.

In use, the griddle 10 may be rested on such a grill so as to overlie asuitable source of heat and smoke (for example, burning charcoal). Smokeeminating from the source and passing upwardly therefrom is constrainedwithin the collection chamber 22 by means of the flange and the lowersurface 16 of the plate member 12.

It will be appreciated that smoke entering the chamber 22 is thendirected upwardly by the chamber boundaries through the smokingapertures 18. This upwardly directed smoke, in practice, overlies theupper cooking surface of the griddle in a mist or fog-like fashion.

As the extent of the flange 20 becomes deeper, i.e., projects furtherbeyond the lower surface 16 of the plate member 12, the amount of smokewhich may be accumulated in the collection chamber increases. In thepreferred embodiment, it has been found that a projection distance D ofabout five-sixteenths of an inch gives very satisfactory results.

At the outer periphery of the upper cooking surface 14 a retaining means26 is provided. In the article illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, thisretaining means 26 takes the form of an imperforate flange projectingupwardly from thecooking surface and tapering generally outwardlytherefrom, as indicated at 28. This flange is contiguous with the outerperiphery of the upper cooking surface 14 and with the illustrateddownwardly projecting flange 20 which forms part of the collectionchamber 22.

Thus, the flange 28 embodying the retaining means 26 may be formed bystamping a depressed area in the plate member 12 adjacent its outerperiphery but spaced inwardly therefrom. Then, the outer periphery maybe bent downward to form the smoke collection flange member 20 wherebythe retaining means 26, the smoke collection chamber 22 and the platemember 12 are comprised in an integral unit.

The purpose of the retaining means 26 is two-fold. First, the greasefrom the cooked food is inhibited, by this retaining means 26, fromdripping over the side of the griddle 10. Thus, the grease is retainedwithin the confines of the upper cooking surface 14 so as to be causedto drip downwardly to the source of fire and smoke through the smokingapertures 18. Downward dripping of the grease, of course, causes thegeneration of further smoke to be collected by the collection chamber22. It will be readily apparent that if the grease were permitted tosubstantially drip over or through the side of the griddle 10, thesubsequently generated smoke would not be as readily collectable withinthe smoke collection chamber 22. The imperforate nature of the retainingmeans 26 prevents grease from dripping into the fire through theretaining means 26 and over the top thereof.

The second function of the retaining means 26 is to inhibit food on thecooking surface from sliding off of the cooking surface should it becomenecessary to physically displace the griddle. For example, if it isdesired to move the food to a cooler or hotter portion of a grill or totemporarily remove the food in case of unwanted flames from thecharcoal, the retaining means 26 miiitates against dropping of food intothe charcoal.

A suitable handle means 30 attached to the plate member in any suitablemanner, such as by rivoting to the flange 20 as illustrated at 32, maybe employed so that movement of the griddle 10 may be readilyaccomplished.

It will also be apparent that the continuous upper cooking surface 14provided by the apertured plate member 12 provides, as opposed to therelatively open grill network of the prior art, for ready manipulationof food on the griddle without the danger of dropping the food into afire. A spatula 15 (see FIG. 1) or the like may be utilized toaccomplish this manipulation by directing the spatula underneath thefood in any direction along the griddle without danger of snagging thespatula.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. In this embodiment a barbecue griddle 34 is againformed of a plate member 36 having an upper cooking surface 38 and alower surface 40. However, this plate member 36 is generally dished orconcave.

A flange 42 is provided about the outer plate periphery and extendsdownwardly therefrom beneath the lower surface 40 so as to define asmoke collection chamber means in a manner similar to that in theembodiment in FIGS. 1 and 2. This chamber means may be subdivided intoseveral chambers 44 by support flanges 46 forming an integral supportnetwork.

The bottom surface 48 of the outer flange 42 (and the bottom surfaces ofthe support flanges 46 if they are coplanar with the surface 48) providea support for resting the griddle 34 on a conventional grill or othersurface.

Circumferential sets of smoking apertures 50 are generally evenly spacedabout the cooking surface 38 and function as do the apertures 18discussed in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2. Also functioning similarlyto the retaining means 26 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is a grease and foodretaining means 52. In the embodiment of FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, however, theimperforate retaining means 52 is provided by the upwardly sloping,outer edge 54 of the dished, continuous plate member 36.

The griddle 34 may also be provided with a suitable handle 54 secured tothe outer flange 42, by fastening means 56.

1: will be appreciated that the article of FIGS. 3, 4

and 5 is similar with respect to function and advantages to that ofFIGS. 1 and 2. Also, the geometry with respect to aperture spacing andthe like, as well as alternatives in structure discussed in connectionwith FIGS 1 and 2, is applicable to the FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 embodiment.

Thus, it will be seen that in following the present invention animproved barbecuing apparatus is provided in the form of a barbecuegriddle which serves to facilitate flavoring of the food by adequatesmoking while minimizing the problems associated with moving the food.

A significant advantage is provided by the flange means projectingdownwardly from the lower surface of the plate member, which flangemeans defines, together with the lower surface, a smoke collectionchamber. j

Further advantages are provided by the retaining means adjacent theouter periphery of the upper cooking surface which inhibits grease from.dripping downwardly over the outer griddle periphery and directs thatgrease to'the portion;of the source of smoke so that further smokegenerated thereby may be readily collected in the collection chamber.

Other advantages are provided by the fact that the continuous, smoothcooking surface, as opposed to a relatively opennetwork, enables food tobe manipulated on the griddle without dropping it into the fire; Theretaining means is also significant'inthis respect in-,

sofar as during movement of the griddle, loss of the a food by slidingtherefrom isinhibited. 1

Although the inventionhas been described in connection with preferredand illustrated embodiments, it

will be appreciated" that additions, substitutions, modificationsanddeletions not particularly described may occur to those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in theappended claims. a

What is claimed is: s h

a 1. A barbecue griddle adapted to overlie a source of heat and smoke,the griddle'comprising;

a heat conductive .plate' member having a continuous, smooth uppercooking surface and a lower surface,

said plate member being provided with a plurality of spaced smokingapertures extending therethrough from said upper cooking surface to saidlower surface and disposed in a network sufficient to provide for smokeflavoring of food whileexcluding food from passing through said platemember,

handle means connected to said plate member, and

means, including said lower surface of said plate member; and a flangemeans projecting downwardly therefrom, for defining a smoke collectionchamber operative to collect smoke flowing upwardly from the smokesource and direct the collected smoke upwardly through said smokingapertures so as to overlie said upper cooking surface of said platemember; said flange means defining a generally planar support for saidgriddle. 2. A barbecue griddle according to claim 1 wherein: said flangemeans is integral with said plate member and extends peripherally aboutsaid flange member. 3. A barbecue griddle according to claim I andfurther including:

retaining means, adjacent the outer periphery of said upper cookingsurface and extending upwardly therefrom, for inhibiting grease fromdripping downwardly over the outer periphery of said cooking surface andfor inhibiting, food on said cooking surface from sliding from saidcooking surface. I 4. Cooking apparatus for cooking food under theinfluence of a source of heat and smoke comprising in combination:

a grill having a relatively open grill network overlying the source ofheat and smoke; and a a barbecue griddle removably resting on said grillin any selected one of a plurality of positions, said barbecue griddlecomprising:

a heat conductive plate member having a continuous, smooth upper cookingsurface and a lower :surface: i

said plate member being provided with a plurality of spaced smokingapertures extending therethrough from said continuous, smooth uppercooking surface to said lower plate surface;

said smoking apertures being disposed in a network relatively closed ascompared to said open network of said grill, and sufficient to provide.for

- smoke flavoring of food while excluding food from passing through saidplate member; r

handle means connected to said plate member; and

imperforate retaining means," adjacent the outer periphery of saidsmooth, upper cooking surface andextending upwardly therefrom, forinhibiting grease from dripping downwardly over and through the outerperiphery of said ,cookingsurface and forinhibiting foodon said cookingsurface from sliding from said cooking surface.

5. Cooking apparatus according to claim 4 wherein: said apertures 1extending from said continuous, smooth ,upper cooking surface to saidlower-plate surface are generallyarcuately bonded. I 6. The combinationaccording to claim 4 wherein:

the surface area of said cooking surface exceeds the surface areadefined by said smoking apertures. 7. The combination according to claim4 wherein: said smoking apertures are generally evenly spaced about saidplate member. I 8. A method of'cooking food under the influence of asource of heat and smoke comprising:

supporting food to be cooked on a handledbarbecue griddle comprised of aheat conductive plate member with a continuous smooth upper cookingsurface, a lower surface and a plurality of spaced inhibiting greasefrom dripping downwardly over and through the outer periphery of saidcooking surface and inhibiting food on said cooking surface from slidingtherefrom, both with imperforate retaining means disposed adjacent theouter pared to the aperture network of said plate periphery of saidcooking surface and extending upwardly therefrom.

9. The cooking method according to claim 8 wherein the step ofmanipulating the food in the heat conducremovably resting the barbecuegriddle on a barbecue grill overlying the source of heat and smoke andhaving a relatively open grill network as commb 10 tive plate memberincludes the step of: manipulating the food on the heat conductive platedirecting a p l like member underneath the fOOd member; and across thecontinuous, smooth upper cooking moving the griddle from its supportedposition on the Surface m y selected directiongrill utilizing thehandle; and 5

1. A barbecue griddle adapted to overlie a source of heat and smoke, thegriddle comprising: a heat conductive plate member having a continuous,smooth upper cooking surface and a lower surface, said plate memberbeing provided with a plurality of spaced smoking apertures extendingtherethrough from said upper cooking surface to said lower surface anddisposed in a network sufficient to provide for smoke flavoring of foodwhile excluding food from passing through said plate member, handlemeans connected to said plate member, and means, including said lowersurface of said plate member and a flange means projecting downwardlytherefrom, for defining a smoke collection chamber operative to collectsmoke flowing upwardly from the smoke source and direct the collectedsmoke upwardly through said smoking apertures so as to overlie saidupper cooking surface of said plate member; said flange means defining agenerally planar support for said griddle.
 2. A barbecue griddleaccording to claim 1 wherein: said flange means is integral with saidplate member and extends peripherally about said flange member.
 3. Abarbecue griddle according to claim 1 and further including: retainingmeans, adjacent the outer periphery of said upper cooking surface andextending upwardly therefrom, for inhibiting grease from drippingdownwardly over the outer periphery of said cooking surface and forinhibiting food on said cooking surface from sliding from said cookingsurface.
 4. Cooking apparatus for cooking food under the influence of asource of heat and smoke comprising in combination: a grill having arelatively open grill network overlying the source of heat and smoke;and a barbecue griddle removably resting on said grill in any selectedone of a plurality of positions, said barbecue griddle comprising: aheat conductive plate member having a continuous, smooth upper cookingsurface and a lower surface: said plate member being provided with aplurality of spaced smoking apertures extending therethrough from saidcontinuous, smooth upper cooking surface to said lower plate surface;said smoking apertures being disposed in a network relatively closed ascompared to said open network of said grill, and sufficient to providefor smoke flavoring of food while excluding food from passing throughsaid plate member; handle means connected to said plate member; andimperforate retaining means, adjacent the outer periphery of saidsmooth, upper cooking surface and extending upwardly therefrom, forinhibiting grease from dripping downwardly over and through the outerperiphery of said cooking surface and for inhibiting food on saidcooking surface from sliding from said cooking surface.
 5. Cookingapparatus according to claim 4 wherein: said apertures extending fromsaid continuous, smooth upper cooking surface to said lower platesurface are generally arcuately bonded.
 6. The combination according toclaim 4 wherein: the surface area of said cooking surface exceeds thesurface area defined by said smoking apertures.
 7. The combinationaccording to claim 4 wherein: said smoking apertures are generallyevenly spaced about said plate member.
 8. A Method of cooking food underthe influence of a source of heat and smoke comprising: supporting foodto be cooked on a handled barbecue griddle comprised of a heatconductive plate member with a continuous smooth upper cooking surface,a lower surface and a plurality of spaced smoking apertures extendingtherethrough from the upper cooking surface to the lower surface anddisposed in a network sufficient to provide for smoking flavoring of thefood while excluding the food from passing through said plate member;removably resting the barbecue griddle on a barbecue grill overlying thesource of heat and smoke and having a relatively open grill network ascompared to the aperture network of said plate member; manipulating thefood on the heat conductive plate member; moving the griddle from itssupported position on the grill utilizing the handle; and inhibitinggrease from dripping downwardly over and through the outer periphery ofsaid cooking surface and inhibiting food on said cooking surface fromsliding therefrom, both with imperforate retaining means disposedadjacent the outer periphery of said cooking surface and extendingupwardly therefrom.
 9. The cooking method according to claim 8 whereinthe step of manipulating the food in the heat conductive plate memberincludes the step of: directing a spatula like member underneath thefood and across the continuous, smooth upper cooking surface in anyselected direction.